Meteorologists in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region have found that the region has experienced more warm winters since the 1990s, indicating a trend of temperature rise in the region.

Tang Xiaoping, engineer from the local climate center, and colleagues have analyzed average winters temperatures in the region over the past 30 years. They found that the temperature in the region has shown an upward trend. In 1998 and 2000, the region had "abnormally warm" winters.

In small sub-regions, such as the Ngari District and the northeastern part of the region, noted Tang, warm winters are getting increasingly noticeable. The northeastern part experienced eight "abnormally warm" winters in the past 30 years.

The occurrence of more warm winters in the region is related to the global warming, Tang acknowledged. He didn't give detailed explanation.

In the past four decades and so, the average temperature in the region has increased 0.26 degrees Celsius every ten years. The speed is five to ten times higher than the country's average, and also higher than the speed of global warming.  

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2005)